Friday, April 19, 2013

Resonance Asset Management launches wind energy income fund

With a distribution agreement in place via boutique investment bank Dexion Capital plc, initial commitments were raised from pension funds, insurance companies and family offices. The Guernsey-domiciled fund is administered by Dexion Capital (Guernsey) Limited.

The fund, advised by Resonance, is ungeared and pays out all generated income to investors. Investors in the fund are seeking regular income that is linked to the price of wholesale electricity in the UK and the subsidies from the Renewable Obligation regime.

The offering will consolidate the fragmented ownership of operating small and medium-sized wind farms in the UK with generating capacity of 2MW to 10MW, providing wind farm developers with an exit on their projects. This will enable them to reinvest in further new wind farm developments.

Shortly following the first close, the fund completed its first investment: Strath of Brydock wind farm was developed by Muirden Energy LLP and was commissioned in 2009. It is located near Banff in Aberdeenshire and has a nameplate generating capacity of 6.9MW from three Enercon E70 wind turbines.

Resonance founder and chief executive Nick Wood said:

“We are delighted to both have a first close on the fund and make its first investment within the month. We believe more institutional investors will appreciate the benefits of steady, low risk income from real assets, especially energy assets, to complement other income generating investments in their portfolios. We are actively seeking further investments of operating UK wind farms for our investors.”

Robin Fuller, an executive director of Dexion Capital (Guernsey) Limited, said:

“Guernsey has earned a reputation for its expertise in the formation and administration of alternative asset classes and, more recently, in the clean tech sector. This is a great example of a private equity clean tech investment structure.”

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The photovoltaic industry boom warmer too early

However, despite the PV product prices rebound, but the current price still can not support the resumption of production of most businesses, especially overseas polysilicon enterprises in the EU under the shadow of anti-dumping will continue to suppress the enthusiasm of the domestic manufacturers, Ministry of Industry officials said that more than 85% of the domestic polysilicon production enterprises have ceased production, most of the enterprises at a loss. At the same time, the risk of precarious debt crisis intensified, to the once "Wuxi card," Suntech on behalf of the leading PV grid connected inverter companies are facing the risk of bankruptcy twice been prompted by the United States Exchange delisting risk, and LDK is facing bankruptcy situation. Data show that the domestic component companies listed overseas, asset-liability ratio close to 80%, asset-liability ratio of the component companies in the domestic market is also close to 60%.

"The new energy stocks rose only short-term speculation." Guotai Junan analyst HouWenTao to the "Red Week" reporters said. He believes that the supply and demand situation of the photovoltaic industry, the fundamentals have not improved markedly, although this year the prices of goods to rebound, but overall is still hovering at the bottom, to say really warmed up too early to say.

More than 1000 PV companies in Europe to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese solar companies asked the European Commission to give up. " Recently, rumors about EU anti-sanctions will be canceled to boost the domestic photovoltaic business confidence. "If the European Commission has adopted the requirements of the abolition of the dual anti-sanctions, PV companies in China will usher in the second newborn Europe shrinking share of exports is expected to be picked up again, the otherwise formal ruling settled the bankrupt enterprises will also increase. A Insiders told reporters.

However, it seems that there are some domestic photovoltaic enterprises do not value the power of the EU anti-sanctions, such as the chairman of Trina Solar said in an interview, despite the unfavorable factors such as the European Union on China PV industry "double reverse" survey impact, but with China, Japan and other emerging market demand continues to increase, the overall situation of the industry this year will be better than last year.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Enbridge, EDF buy 300 MW Alberta wind project

Enbridge Inc and renewable energy development company EDF EN Canada Inc have agreed to buy a 300 megawatt wind project in Alberta from privately held wind power developer Greengate Power Corp.The US$600-million project in Vulcan County will be the largest wind project in Western Canada when operational, the companies said.

“Blackspring Ridge is an important addition to Enbridge’s fleet of renewable projects as it significantly expands our wind energy portfolio in the Alberta market, which we first entered nearly a decade ago with our Magrath and Chin Chute windfarms,” said Don Thompson, vice president, Enbridge.Enbridge, Canada’s No. 2 pipeline company, said in December it would buy half the stake in EDF EN Canada’s 150 megawatt Massif du Sud wind farm in Quebec.

Calgary-based Enbridge, which has been building its portfolio of renewable energy projects to supply power for its own needs and offset its carbon emissions, also bought a 50 MW project in Nevada last March from First Solar Inc.EDF EN Canada and Enbridge said on Monday they would each own 50 percent of the Blackspring Ridge project, expected to start construction in the second quarter of 2013 and reach commissioning in mid-summer of 2014.Blackspring Ridge will comprise 166 Vestas V100-1.8 MW wind turbines.

EDF EN Canada will build the project under a fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction contract.Calgary-based Greengate Power is developing 1,450 MW of wind energy projects on about 165,000 acres of private land across Alberta.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Wind turbine to provide clean power

Japanese contractors recently constructed one of the Department of Defense’s first wind turbines in Japan adjacent to Building 1 on Camp Foster.

The turbine, which is expected to be fully operational in mid-April, will generate clean power and help reduce Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler’s carbon footprint and utilities bill, according to Tomoko Matsuzaki, an energy engineer with facilities engineers, G-F, Facilities, MCB Camp Butler, Marine Corps Installations Pacific.

“This project has been years in the making, and once it is up and running, it will immediately reduce the amount of power Building 1 pulls from the grid,” said Matsuzaki. “Since the generator converts kinetic energy from the wind into electrical energy, there are no emissions associated with the turbine, making it better for the environment.”

The turbine is capable of generating 10 kilowatt-hours each hour at its peak, which, as an example, would power the fluorescent lights on one floor of Building 1, according to Capt. Steven M. Bancroft, energy and utilities officer in charge with facilities engineers.

“Whenever the wind is blowing and the turbine is operating, energy is being created and Building 1 is pulling less power from the grid,” said Bancroft. “That is better for the environment here on Japan, as it means less power is being used from the traditional power plants, which still have large carbon emissions.”

“In addition to these turbines resulting in more clean energy and lower utility costs for Camp Butler, they are also providing us valuable information for future energy saving projects,” said Matsuzaki. “We have set up monitoring systems with both turbines, so we can see what their short-term and long-term effects are and determine how we want to move forward with planning future projects.”

The turbines represent just one way MCB Camp Butler is working to reduce energy costs and increase the use of green energy.
“We have also applied solar film to many buildings throughout MCB Camp Butler,” said Bancroft. “What that solar film does is reflect sunlight off buildings, so the insides do not get as hot during the day, which means less air conditioning is required to keep the temperature cool and constant.”

“Individuals can still save a lot by remembering to turn off lights and appliances when not in use and close windows and doors when the air conditioning is on,” said Matsuzaki. “These turbines represent a big step forward for us in our continued efforts to be responsible with the taxpayers’ dollars and to the environment here on Okinawa.”